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About the Broadband Test

What is Jitter?

What is Jitter? Jitter is a measure in milliseconds (ms) how much delay there is in your network between transmissions of data packets. Ideally you want this figure to be as close to 0ms as possible, but provided it stays below 30ms you should not notice it much. High Jitter of 100+ms will start to have a serious impact on video and audio quality within your network, however.

What is Upload and Download?

Upload Speed is a measure of how fast your computer can send data from its own storage to the internet. Download Speed is a measure of the opposite, how fast your computer can receive data from the internet. It’s as simple and up and down. A thing to keep in mind is that the speeds tend to differ, that’s normal, and like with most things the bigger the number for both the faster the speed is.

What is Ping?

Ping is a measurement of reactivity of your network is, in other words, how long in milliseconds (ms) it takes for your system to start doing something after you’ve sent a request. It’s a good way to measure latency in your local network, a higher number will mean more lag, so ideally you want the Ping to stay as low as possible.

Broadband speed fluctuation

Broadband is not magic, and it can be physically blocked by putting objects in the way of it. It’s why mountainous regions often have trouble with Broadband and why Satellite Broadband can be very problematic. It boils down to the fact that broadband transmits radio waves, which are technically a kind of light, so if you were to put big thick walls of metal between your router and your devices; you essentially sever the devices from the broadband network.

In real terms then, if your Router is locked away in a cabinet, in a different room to your internet-connected devices; you will experience slower speeds than if it were in the same room. So if you are experiencing slow internet, or your speed fluctuates, consider changing where you put your router and your connected devices. It might not fix your specific problems, but it almost certainly will help.

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